How comprehensive is your boiler insurance?

Many people pay for boiler insurance to cover the costs of fixing broken boilers. However, such policies do not always provide the coverage expected by the consumer.

It is important to read all the small print in the policy to find out if there are any circumstances that will not be covered, for example frost damage or the boiler being too old. Renewal notifications may fail to mention the latter even if the insurance will effectively be worthless in this circumstance.

Regular boiler checks by authorised boiler engineers can prevent problems from arising and may even work out cheaper than insurance premiums.

Frozen outlet pipes are often the cause of problems and HomeServe and British Gas provide videos on their websites showing how to unblock them.

As with all insurance policies, it is beneficial to shop around for the best policy and quotation. There are many internet comparison sites available to assist. If it becomes necessary to make a claim, it is important to contact your insurer as quickly as possible.

I had an interesting Tuesday 1st March. The car bonnet wouldn't shut, we found a builder had broken a bed (don't ask!), and our boiler broke down. Thankfully we were covered by an annual policy, and the engineer was out in no time. On previous occasions they've been able to fix our ancient boiler within 2 hours. This time it defeated 3 engineers over 5 days. I dread to think what it would have cost in call out fees. The policy gave us peace of mind. However, having bought a new boiler, which is covered under warranty, we're likely to renegotiate on the cost of the annual policy - it’s worth finding out what is covered.